The requisite time limitation within which an aggrieved person ("complainant") must file charges of discrimination with the EEOC are contained in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(e) (Supp. II, 1972).
*fn2"
If a complainant has initially instituted proceedings with a state unfair employment practices agency, he or she must file a charge with the EEOC within 300 days after the alleged act of discrimination or within 30 days of the receipt of notice that the state agency has terminated its proceedings. Otherwise, all charges must be filed with the EEOC within 180 days after the alleged discrimination. Since timely filing of charges is a "jurisdictional" prerequisite, Wetzel v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 508 F.2d 239, 246 & n.8 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 1011, 44 L. Ed. 2d 679, 95 S. Ct. 2415 (1975),
*fn3"
a failure to comply with § 2000e-5(e) deprives a district court of subject matter jurisdiction.

In the instant case, plaintiff's employment was terminated by Sperry on August 27, 1974. On April 11, 1975, 227 days after her discharge, plaintiff attempted to file a charge of discrimination with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission ("PHRC")
*fn4"
and, on the same day, she filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC. Following a review, the EEOC sent plaintiff a statutory notice of her right to sue and informed her that it had dismissed the charge for lack of jurisdiction. Plaintiff filed her judicial complaint on October 7, 1975.

Initially, we must decide whether plaintiff's federal judicial remedy is barred because she failed to timely file a charge of discrimination with the PHRC within the 90-day state limitation period.
*fn5"
We hold that it is not. Whatever may have been the Pennsylvania Legislature's reasons for establishing a 90-day limitation period, it is clear that this time limit may not bar an otherwise valid Title VII cause of action. As pointed out by the court in Davis v. Valley Distributing Co., 522 F.2d 827 (9th Cir. 1975), petition for cert. filed, 44 U.S.L.W. 3404 (U.S. Dec. 13, 1975) (No. 75-836):

If the state in which the unlawful practice occurred affords a remedy, prior resort to that remedy is a precondition to intervention by EEOC and suit in federal court. If access to EEOC and the federal court were also conditioned upon invocation of the state remedy within a period of limitation shorter than that required for application to EEOC, the state and not the federal period of limitations would control the availability of the federal remedy. The complaint would be required to file his charge of discrimination, not within the period fixed by Congress, but within the period fixed by the state in which the unlawful practice occurred.

As mentioned above, the general rule is that a complaint must file a charge with the EEOC within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act. Only if the complaint has "initially instituted proceedings" with the appropriate state agency may he obtain the benefit of the extended filing period.
*fn6"
The purpose underlying this extended period "is to give the state agency an initial opportunity to process the claim without jeopardizing the federal right, not to extend by 120 days the time for assertion of this federal right." Olson v. Rembrandt Printing Co., 511 F.2d 1228, 1232 (8th Cir. 1975) (en banc). Where, as here, a charge is not timely filed with the appropriate state agency, the purpose for allowing the extended federal filing period is not served, since there is nothing before the state agency to process. More importantly, to allow a complainant to obtain the benefit of the extended filing period, notwithstanding the untimely filing of a state charge, would lead to the anomalous result of requiring complainants in states without unfair employment practice agencies to file an EEOC charge within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act while, at the same time, allowing complainants in states with such agencies to file an EEOC charge within 300 days of the alleged discriminatory act, without having instituted proceedings with the state agency. Accordingly, plaintiff's failure to file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC within 180 days of her termination from employment deprives this Court of subject matter jurisdiction.

Although some courts have adopted the Olson rule, Anderson v. Port Authority, 12 FEP Cases 1101 (W.D.Pa. Feb. 12, 1976); Doski v. M. Goldseker Co., 11 FEP Cases 468 (D.Md. July 17, 1975), this Court is disinclined to do so for two reasons. First, the Olson court's reasoning, that a short state limitation period may not control the federal limitation period which a complainant must meet in order to receive the benefit of the extended filing period, is not supported by the language of § 2000e-5(e) itself. That section does not prescribe a federal period within which a complainant must file a charge with a state agency. It merely states that, if a complainant has initially instituted proceedings with a state agency, he is entitled to the benefit of the extended filing period. We are unable to discern how a complainant may be said to have "instituted" proceedings with a state agency when the state limitation period has expired.
*fn8"
Second, it appears that the rule in no way furthers what the Eighth Circuit deems to be the purpose underlying the extended filing period -- namely, to give the state agency an initial opportunity to process the claim without jeopardizing the federal right. If a complainant fails to file a timely charge with a state agency, there is no need to extend the period for filing with the EEOC, since there is no claim before the state to process.
*fn9"

Accordingly, if a complainant fails to timely file a charge of discrimination with the appropriate state or local agency, then he or she is not entitled to the benefit of the 300-day limitation period, but must file a charge with the EEOC within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory act. Since plaintiff fails to meet this requirement, the complaint must be dismissed. An appropriate Order will be entered.

ORDER

AND NOW, TO WIT, this 9th day of June, 1976, IT IS ORDERED that defendant's motion to dismiss is hereby granted.

LOUIS C. BECHTLE, J.

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